For more than 30 years, the Vero Beach Christmas Parade on Ocean Drive has brought the community together to celebrate the holidays. This year, residents mixed with tourists and neighboring visitors to watch as 99 entrants floated along the route under a full moon.
A new 3K Candy Cane Run started things off, with roughly 245 runners and walkers in elfin wear and twinkling lights filling the street before the parade. As the race ended, a sense of anticipation filled the air; children looking impatiently down Ocean Drive, straining to see if Santa would be coming soon.
At last, police sirens and the sound of distant music began to fill the air as the Vero Beach Police Department, Indian River Sheriff’s Office and the Vero Beach High School Band signaled the start of the parade.
The annual event got its start 31 years ago, devised by the Vero Beach High School Band as a way for entrants in the Crown Jewel Marching Band Competition to strut their stuff for the locals. Over the years local businesses and organizations began to get involved, and a community tradition was born.
In 1999 Danica Perhacs, a high school band mom, took over the herculean task, becoming the parade’s enthusiastic logistics coordinator and continuing the effort even after her daughter graduated.
Perhacs realized that to do things properly a sponsor would be needed to help underwrite the expenses, which continued to mount as the parade expanded. In 2002 she approached the Oceanside Business Association and Todd Durress of the Sunrise Rotary Club, offering to continue running the event if they would sponsor it and underwrite the insurance. The two organizations have hosted the event ever since.
After 11 years of dedicated service, Perhacs passed the baton. “I just finally knew it was time to watch the parade like everyone else,” said Perhacs. “In all those years I was so busy organizing the floats, timing it and doing the coordination that I never got to enjoy it.”
Karen Dodson and Al Benkert of the OBA currently coordinate the event, which continues to be a highlight of Vero’s holiday season. Last Saturday, every inch of sidewalk from Flamevine Lane to Jaycee Park was filled with people, watching as the parade passed by and eagerly awaiting a chance to wave to Santa on the final float.
“Karen did a super job as usual,” said Benkert, OBA board member and past president. “It’s the largest parade ever and I thought there was a lot of originality and enthusiasm. Piper just really outdid themselves.”
Piper Aircraft’s float won Best of Parade; Jim Rott Home Improvements received the Most Holiday Spirit prize; Most Enthusiastic went to Vero Beach Cobra Bikes; Bark Avenue was recognized as Most Humorous, and Most Original went to Vero Beach Elementary. Two new awards were given to crowd favorites – Vero Beach High School Band for Best Performance and DuBose and Sons Jewelers was honored with a Legacy Award. Both have participated since the first Ocean Drive parade.
